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I cannot give you a definitive answer because as usual, it depends on a number of factors such as the specific material type, testing standards, method of manufacturer, etc. But in general, these UV-cured elastomers have similar shore hardnesses but generally have lower tear strength and will break at lower elongations when compared to normal silicone.

[EnginRuss]

Hi everyone,  I am looking at developing a silicone product, specifically an armband for a certain sports watch brand. The design is quite complex and it seems as if 3D printing is the best choice for this. I am however not sure if 3D printing can actually produce parts that mimic the properties of silicone. And if not, are there materials that at least come close to replicating these properties?

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[Benjamin S.]

 Hi, silicone-like materials are already quite common with standard DLP or SLA-type printers that cure a photopolymer using UV light. These materials are not actual silicone but silicone-like, and by silicone like the suppliers of these materials are usually only referring to the hardness of the material, they will not have the thermal resistance and biocompatibility of typical 2-component platinum cure silicone. I have used these materials and they are definitely interesting because of the complex parts that can be printed using UV cure printers, but I would not use them as a silicone replacement.

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[EnginRuss]

Hi Benjamin, that’s what I was afraid to hear. How well do these materials behave under cyclic loading, do they behave more like an elastomer or a thermoplastic? Also, how do the general mechanical properties of these materials compare to normal silicone?

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[Benjamin S.]

I cannot give you a definitive answer because as usual, it depends on a number of factors such as the specific material type, testing standards, method of manufacturer, etc. But in general, these UV-cured elastomers have similar shore hardnesses but generally have lower tear strength and will break at lower elongations when compared to normal silicone.

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[Joel @ Xometry]

Hey there! As Benjamin mentioned, there are certainly silicone-like materials available with 3D printing. You may want to explore SIL 30, which is offered via the Carbon DLS process. It is a tear-resistant
silicone urethane elastomer with biocompatibility suitable for skin-contact applications. DLS pricing is a bit higher than other processes for one-offs but can scale relatively well depending on part size, and the materials can definitely work for end-use applications. We also offer silicone casting, which utilizes SLA printed master patterns and soft tooling, which is great for getting low volumes (e.g., 25-100 pieces) of production quality parts to test the market before investing in high-volume production options like LSR molding.

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[Joel @ Xometry]

Hey there! As Benjamin mentioned, there are certainly silicone-like materials available with 3D printing. You may want to explore SIL 30, which is offered via the Carbon DLS process. It is a tear-resistant
silicone urethane elastomer with biocompatibility suitable for skin-contact applications. DLS pricing is a bit higher than other processes for one-offs but can scale relatively well depending on part size, and the materials can definitely work for end-use applications. We also offer silicone casting, which utilizes SLA printed master patterns and soft tooling, which is great for getting low volumes (e.g., 25-100 pieces) of production quality parts to test the market before investing in high-volume production options like LSR molding.

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[Joel @ Xometry]

Hey there! As Benjamin mentioned, there are certainly silicone-like materials available with 3D printing. You may want to explore SIL 30, which is offered via the Carbon DLS process. It is a tear-resistant
silicone urethane elastomer with biocompatibility suitable for skin-contact applications. DLS pricing is a bit higher than other processes for one-offs but can scale relatively well depending on part size, and the materials can definitely work for end-use applications. We also offer silicone casting, which utilizes SLA printed master patterns and soft tooling, which is great for getting low volumes (e.g., 25-100 pieces) of production quality parts to test the market before investing in high-volume production options like LSR molding.

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[Daniel Walsh]

There are other methods of printing silicone other than the photopolymer route, these printing technologies are less well known as they are usually used for niche applications. One example is Spectroplast. Their machine prints a proprietary, 100% silicone with properties approaching that of platinum-cured silicone. I did notice that their datasheets do not provide test results for cytotoxicity (toxicity to cells) so maybe make sure before using it for your armbands.

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[EnginRuss]

Thanks, I will definitely check them out and make sure to ask them about the material’s bio-compatibility.

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